Be your own Santa

As the pounds come off, as you can go from 5 minutes on the elliptical to 15, as you move from a size 16 to a size 14 and beyond – you should reward yourself. After all, you’ve worked hard (if you’re doing it right!), sticking to a healthy diet and an exercise schedule.

Setting up a rewards system is the most fun part of losing weight. Set some small, realistic goals, and set up some rewards for yourself along the way.

Inches, sizes or pounds you lose are obvious goals. I also wanted to buy myself a gift after I was able to work my way up to a full 30 minutes of circuit (it took a few weeks to build up to that!).

I generally go by pounds – for every pounds ending in a -5, I generally try to find something for myself. I’ve bought myself books and clothes for each one, basically. A book here, a T-shirt there, that kind of thing. As I continue to lose more weight, I’d like for the rewards to be a bit more expensive – like, maybe I’ll get a manicure or a pedicure, or buy myself some kind of expensive make-up, that sort of thing.

For losing my full 75 pounds, I’ve considered several bigger ideas, like a portable record player, a trip to NYC or maybe, just maybe (and please don’t tell my dad) a tattoo.

The important thing is, don’t make food your reward. Don’t say, oh, well, I’ve lost (insert number) of pounds (or inches, or sizes, or whatever), so I can have a large pizza or an entire cheesecake. That’s just detrimental to your plan!

Think of little happies you generally don’t buy for yourself that often. Maybe it’s a CD, a movie, make-up, a mani/pedi, a massage, that sort of thing. That’s my plan, anyway.

Don’t feel guilty about spending money on yourself – besides, like I said, you’re working hard for this!